Topics of The Times; Perilous Prescription

Published: August 1, 1991

Selegiline is the generic name of a relatively new medication -- brand name Eldepryl -- for Parkinson's disease. Stelazine is the brand name of an older drug for other problems, and it can worsen parkinsonism. The two words aren't hard to confuse, especially in the prescription scrawl they teach at med school.

According to a letter in The New England Journal of Medicine, that's what happened to two Parkinson's patients for whom selegiline was prescribed. Different pharmacists mistakenly gave both of them Stelazine, with bad effect in both cases.

The letter was from three doctors with the California Parkinson's Foundation, who suggested that "all prescriptions be typed or printed . . . until the health care profession is more familiar with selegiline."

That sounds like a wonderfully sensible precaution for all drugs -- until the health care profession is more familiar with penmanship.